Sam's POV

Freddie's ex-girlfriend?

"This girl is your ex-girlfriend?" I laughed. "No wonder you're the ex!"

I may have felt slightly intimidated by her sudden appearance, but Sam Puckett bows down to nobody. I am no pushover, you know? And I'm not going down without a fight.

"Not for long," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow, Freddie..."

He looked at me nervously as he took a gulp in fear. "She's your ex-girlfriend? I thought she was that girl we met at the store?"

"Yeah," he replied. "It's a long story."

"But what does she mean when she said 'not for long'?" I tried to dramatize her sentence by putting air quotations around the words she said. "Are you breaking up with me to return to her side?"

"No," he said firmly. "I would never do that! Besides, the both of us are history. What's important right now is the pageant. How're you gonna win the title of 'The People's Princess' if you don't know ninety percent of the town?"

I looked up at the ceiling, thinking about what Freddie just said. It's true that I don't know many people, but do I really have to learn everything?

"So, let's start with the people in this restaurant. How many people do you know?" he asked.

"Hmm... Let's see..." I scanned the people around me to try and find someone familiar. "There's Princess Valerie and... Bill."

"Bill?" he looked at me doubtfully. "Who's Bill?"

I stood up on my seat and yelled 'Bill' throughout the entire restaurant. Sure, many people looked at me as though I was strange, including that snob of a princess, but almost ten 'Bills' walked toward me and asked if I knew them.

I smiled proudly at my genius and folded my arms, waiting for Freddie's comments.

"That was..." he paused. "Not counted."

"What?" I frowned. "But you told me to name people whom I know."

"These are not people you know," he smirked. "They're just random people whom you called. Exactly how many 'Bills' are there in Seattlonia anyway?"

Melanie calculated using just her fingers and replied, "Seven thousand, four hundred and sixty three."

I stared at her in shock. "How'd you come up with those numbers?"

She shrugged and continued eating.

"Anyway, those 'Bills' don't count as people you know," Freddie took a sip of water while Pete chuckled. "We have to come up with a plan if we want to know the town by the end of the week."

Melanie pulled out a notepad from her purse and started taking down notes.

"Okay," My jaws dropped. "I Did. Not. See that coming."

She smiled in return, along with the smirking Pete. "Maybe we can have an advertisement to make the people vote for Sam as the People's Princess."

"Whoa...whoa...whoa..." I tried to catch what he just said. "The people are voting? Not judges? I thought this was a pageant?"

"The people are the judges, Sam," Freddie tried to explain things to me. "That's why the name 'The People's Princess'?"

"Oh," I nodded in understanding. "Back to the topic."

Melanie stopped writing notes and looked up at us. "I don't think the advertisement idea will work though. The people want a responsible princess, not some kind of snobbish advertisement model."

"True," Pete nodded in agreement.

"Maybe we can go door-to-door in the morning to offer some help to the people and they may see that Sam is a responsible, caring and helpful person, the perfect candidate for the pageant!"

"That's a great idea!" Melanie exclaimed in excitement.

I frowned. "Yeah, if you're trying to work me to death! Besides, those people will never want my help after what happened in the sixth grade."

"What happened in the sixth grade?" Freddie asked.

"Well," I started. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh."

"Okay," he replied, followed by the nodding of Pete.

I took a deep breath before I continued. "I... used to compete in Beauty Pageants."

Then, snickering was heard from beside me. I flicked his ear in discontent while he groaned in pain. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Sam!" Melanie frowned in disagreement.

"He snickered!" I explained.

Pete took a stand. "But I laughed a little too. Why didn't you do the same to me? Just asking."

"He's different," I blushed. "If he's my nub, he should act like one and stop being such a dork."

Freddie whimpered from the pain, but blushed at my words.

"But why wouldn't the people want your help?" Pete continued asking. "You're a beauty pageant girl."

"Well," I continued. "There's this girl named Leann Carter who always beat me in the pageants while I only emerged second. During the pageant that I competed in when I was in the sixth grade, Leann fell on the flight of stairs and I was suspended from pageants ever since."

"You pushed her?" Freddie asked.

I rolled my eyes while Melanie answered. "Leann tripped on her own. But based on Sam's 'malicious behaviour' and the fact that she always emerges second to Leann, they just deduced that she pushed her."

"Oh," Pete and Freddie nodded in understanding.

"But I was only suspended for seven years. After that, I would be able to compete in pageants again," I slurped on my smoothie. "Still, those people didn't believe that I changed. I really did!"

"Oh, my god!" a girl from behind came over to take a closer look at me. "It's Samantha Puckett! Mom!" And she ran out of the restaurant.

I rolled my eyes. "See?"

"So, our main concern now is to get the people to regain their confidence of you," Freddie stated as Melanie wrote everything down as though she were going for a test on it. "Once we get that done, you'll be the People's Princess for sure!"

I placed my hand on my cheek and leaned towards the table, mumbling, "Easy for you to say..."